A Slip of the Tongue
by LLPotter
Summary: A slip of the tongue can change everything. Whether it's for better or worse is the question. RLSB slash. AU.
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or any other characters for that mattter. Come to think of it I really don't own much of anything. I also had no part in WW II, seeing as I wasn't born yet.

A/N: This is going to be a relativly short piece (10-15 chapters) and will feature a prominent slash pairing. If this bothers you please make use of the back button now. Also, the events in this story are loosely based on those of WW II. If this bothers you please make use of of the back button. Now that that's settled, on with the story...

Prologue:

It's amazing how a slip of the tongue can change everything. A simple statement can change the course of history forever. One question and nothing's the same. So be careful, for a statement could change your entire life and whether it be for better or worse you'll never know.

It could be said that Peter Pettigrew is very smart. It could also be said that Peter Pettigrew is very stupid. Whatever the case may be, he certainly is a traitor. This fact, however definite it may be, is known by far fewer people than the first two. In fact, only two people know it, the first being Peter himself and the second being Lord Voldemort who may or may not be considered a person. That, however, is about to change.

The Order of the Phoenix knows there is an information leak somewhere. There have been too many occurrences of Death Eaters waiting and ready for members of the Order for there to not be a leak. The problem now is that the Order doesn't know who it is. To reduce the number of deaths, Dumbledore has started only telling the members that are going on the missions where and when they are going. This had bred mistrust, especially between two people who shall not be named but whose initials are Remus and Sirius.

This is the story that we all know and love, and we all know the outcome. Here, however, the story changes. The tongues of both Sirius and Remus slip respectively and question the whereabouts of the other when he is absent. These questions are directed to Dumbledore and are always answered with "on a mission, honestly (insert name here) this is the (second, third, fourth) time this week."

The second and more wounding slip is made by the traitor himself. He's been trying for weeks to arouse suspicion between Remus and Sirius and has been succeeding rather brilliantly. Using the fact that Remus is a werewolf and Sirius a pureblood, he's spun webs of distrust between the two. This is where the debate as to whether Peter is very smart or very stupid can be argued best. It could be said that he is very smart because he comes up with such a brilliant plan to drive the group apart. It could also be said that he is very stupid because he doesn't execute said plan very well and is caught. This, however, is neither the time nor the place for that debate.

Sirius, knowing full well that Remus is normally on an Order mission when not at home, decides that Peter's behavior of late is much more suspicious that Remus'. So, Sirius decides to test the theory that not only is Peter the traitor, but he's trying to frame Remus as the spy. One night at an Order gathering Peter casually asks Sirius where Remus had been the previous night. Sirius replies that he "hadn't the faintest." In fact, Remus and Sirius had enjoyed a nice quiet evening together in front of the fire before turning in early. Peter, of course, jumps on the opportunity to make the werewolf look bad and spins a tale about seeing Remus in a dark bar with some known Death Eaters. Sirius politely thanks Peter for the information and restrains himself from killing the (figuratively and literally) rat.

Upon arriving back at their flat, Sirius grabs Remus by the back of the neck, kisses him fiercely, and apologizes profusely. Remus, being thoroughly confused, asks the other man "what the hell are you going on about?" After the situation is explained, along with another apology for suspecting him, Remus relates a story which follows a similar pattern of events. The information makes both men so happy, that not a sound is heard from their bedroom for a very long time. (This is due to a well placed silencing charm that was cast soon after they entered the room. Can't have the neighbors getting upset now can we?)

It isn't until the next morning that they discuss what to do about the problem. It's decided that only Dumbledore should know about it, for if all the others knew, Peter might figure out that his secret was no longer a secret form their behavior towards him. This decision takes some time to reach because Sirius is set on killing "the little bastard" for quite a while. In the end, though, Remus' "let them think they have the upper hand" finally penetrates Sirius' thick skull and he gives in.

There is a third slip of the tongue that occurs during this time. The Potters (seniors that is) are visiting friends when Mr. Potter turns to Mrs. Potter and says "didn't you leave cookies in the oven dear?" Mrs. Potter realizes that this is very true, apologizes to her hosts, and dashes home to prevent burning of the cookies and the house. Three minutes and twenty seven seconds later the house is attacked by Death Eaters; no one survives. James and Mrs. Potter are devastated, but that's war.

The stage is set. The characters are in place. The events that are about to unfold are neither truth nor lies. They are simply what-ifs. A look at what might have happened if these tongues had slipped and Peter was not made the secret keeper.


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1:

"Come on Remus we're going to be late," calls Sirius from the kitchen of their shared flat. It is October 31, 1981 and they are going to the Potter's for a Halloween party of sorts. It is 'of sorts', because Remus and Sirius will be the only guests in attendance. It is rather hard to have a social life when one is hiding for fear of his or her life.

"Sirius it's three o'clock in the afternoon, Lily and James aren't expecting us 'till four," replies Remus from their shared bathroom where he is shaving.

"Yes but the apparition schedule I have planned will take us nearly forty four minutes and it'll take sixteen minutes to walk to their house after the last stop," Sirius shouts back.

"I suppose you've never heard of being fashionably late," says Remus as he walks down the narrow hallway from the bathroom and into the kitchen. "And where exactly are you dragging me today?"

The first time they went visiting the Potter's after the Fidelius charm was cast, Remus had made the remark that 'shouldn't they Apparate a few other places first before they showed up at the Potter's in case they were tailed?' Sirius had taken to the idea with a passion and now plans their schedule with zeal. "You'll find out," Sirius replies with a smile that looks just a little too evil for Remus' liking.

Remus holds out his hands and says resignedly, "lead the way then." Sirius takes his hands and they're off.

"Sirius we're in our back alley," says Remus.

"I know," replies Sirius, "it's the one thing they won't expect." Remus just shakes his head. He gave up trying to understand Sirius' logic years ago.

In the next twenty minutes, Remus finds himself in the middle of a crowded shopping center, on a deserted moor, on the edge of a pier, somewhere in London, and on the roof of what appeared to be a factory.

This is where it gets interesting. After what seemed like a rather long apparition, Remus finds himself in an alley next to what appears to be a shop. Instead of moving right away, Sirius drags him out of the alley and into a street which is undoubtedly in Paris. It is undoubtedly, because the Eiffel Tower can be seen from their position. "You dragged me all the way across the English Channel," asks Remus, "to avoid being followed"

"Well," answers Sirius, "I also thought we could pick up some wine and cheese while we're here."

"Oh," replies Remus rather at a loss for what to say, "that's thoughtful."

Sirius smirks and drags Remus into the shop. When all of their purchases have been made, they return to the alley. Sirius wraps an arm around Remus' waist and kisses him softly. "I love kissing you in Paris," he murmurs as they draw apart. "It's so romantic."

"You, Sirius Black, are the poofiest poof I have ever met," replies Remus, "but I love you." Before he can say anything more, he's on the top of a moving train and all other insults or declarations of love have flown clear out of his mind.

Their last stop before they arrive at the Potter's, Remus finds himself in Arabella Figg's kitchen which smells rather strongly of cabbage and cat. Before they can leave, however, the owner of the house calls out, "who's there?" and they stop.

"It's just Remus and I," calls out Sirius.

"Remus and me," mutters Remus half to himself.

"Why?" replies Sirius, "you're always telling me it's I and now it's me? I think you're changing the rules."

Now, it must be known that Remus corrects grammar all the time. It's a habit that was started back in his first year at Hogwarts and has never really been shaken. You see, James and Sirius had been making fun of Remus for his perfect spelling and grammar so in return Remus started correcting theirs. In fact, Remus has only slipped up twice in his life when it comes to grammar and spelling. The first time was when his three friends told him that they knew his secret (the werewolf one.) The second was when Professor McGonagall found him in a rather compromising position with a certain Mr. Black, but that's another story.

While this is all rather irrelevant to the story, since its come this far, it must also be known that it's not Remus's fault that his grammar is perfect. When he was young, his mother hired a tutor instead of sending little Remus to regular school. This particular man was very good when it came to the English language, but rather bad with numbers. So, while Remus can correct all of the grammatical errors in a cook book, he can't figure out how to measure the ingredients for the life of him, especially if he has to double the recipe.

Anyway, Remus's reply to Sirius's comment about changing the rules of grammar is, "would you say it's just I if you were by yourself? No, you would say it's just me. Therefore, you would use me. And you're the one who changes the rules not me." Their argument is cut short by the arrival of one Arabella Figg.

"Hello dears," she says as she enters the kitchen, "would you like something to eat?"

"No thank you," says Remus just as Sirius opens his mouth to answer with a yes, "we're already late as it is, aren't we Sirius?" Sirius glares at him, but says nothing.

"Alright then," replies Arabella, "drop in for a longer visit next time?" Arabella Figg is rather used to this kind of thing, seeing as her house is a frequent spot for apparition.

"We'll do that," says Remus politely, "but right now we really must be going."

They depart, but not before Sirius growls softly at the cat who was sitting on the counter. Sirius has never really gotten along with cats. Arabella wonders why Fluffy is so upset, but ignores it for the cat calms down soon after the two men leave.

So, one hour, three minutes and twenty-seven seconds after leaving their flat, Remus and Sirius arrive at the home of Lily and James Potter. It should be known that James and Lily know about their relationship and have since their seventh year at Hogwarts. (Well James has anyway; it's debatable as to exactly when Lily figured it out.) You see, James was trying to set Sirius and Remus up with dates for the hundredth time (well more like the seventeenth, but who's counting?) when Lily had finally had enough. The red head dragged him to a corner where she explained the whole thing to him. But this is also another story.

"Sirius, Remus," says James joyfully as they enter the house, "About time you two showed up."

"We made a little detour," says Sirius producing the wine and cheese from his coat.

"Oh good," says Lily as she enters the room, "You're here." She hugs both men and takes the packages from Sirius. "Let's make some jack-o-lanterns; Harry's been excited about it all day."

"Well let's not keep him waiting then," says Sirius and they all move into the other room.

Some time later, Harry has been put to bed and the adults are dancing in the sitting room. They are all a bit tipsy, but not too inebriated because it's never a good idea to be drunk when one is in hiding. One minute you're having a grand old time and the next you're dead, all because you didn't have the sense to draw your wand.

James and Sirius are just a bit more far gone than Remus and Lily and soon they're dancing with each other. Remus and Lily are looking on with amusement. "You really are a horrible dancer James Potter," laughs Sirius.

"At least I don't have two left thumbs," replies James.

"That's feet dear," says Lily, "I think it's time you were in bed." Then to Remus, "you two can sleep on the couch tonight, it's far too late for you to be out." She's gone with James before Remus can thank her or reject her proposal.

Fourteen minutes later, Remus and Sirius are practically on top of each other on the couch. It isn't, you see, a very wide couch, but they are comfortable and warm. With arms around each other to prevent falling off the couch as well as for pleasure, the pair drifts off to sleep.

Somewhere in London, a group of Death Eaters invades the Ministry of Magic. They manage to secure the entire complex before dawn. Seeing as the only one who knows where the Potter's house is, is currently sleeping on the couch of said residence, they are not notified. Remus and Sirius sleep peacefully on, not knowing that their lives are about to be turned upside-down.


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2:

Remus awakes to a hand combing through his hair. He finds upon closer inspection, that his head is resting on Sirius' chest and that the rest of their assorted limbs are hopelessly tangled. They are also about three centimeters from the edge of the couch.

"Hello," says Remus sleepily as he raises his head to look at Sirius. Remus goes to kiss him, but he is stopped.

"Wait love," says Sirius as he reaches out to his discarded robes which are resting on the floor. Out of a pocket comes a small tin of breath mints which Sirius opens. One of the mints goes into his own mouth and the other into Remus'. "Can't have morning breath now can we?" asks Sirius. Remus groans, but obediently sucks on the mint until it's gone.

"Now where were we?" asks Sirius playfully as he pulls Remus' head down for a searing kiss. Remus laughs against his mouth and deepens the kiss.

They're really getting into it, when they hear high childish laughter. Both men freeze and turn their heads to the side to see Harry sitting on the floor watching them intently. "Oh fuck," says Sirius quietly, before clamping his hand over his mouth. Now, this exclamation may have been uttered because both men's shirts are considerably farther away from where they had started and Sirius' godson has been watching for Merlin knows how long. It may also be because Sirius has just realized exactly where he is and what he was about to do. It could also be a combination of the two, or something completely different for all we know. The important thing is that Sirius has just sworn rather vividly in the presence of one year old Harry Potter.

"Fuck," Harry repeats happily. Remus rubs his forehead and Sirius almost repeats his earlier statement, before catching himself and changing the second word to 'no'.

Remus rolls off into the back of the couch, so that he is lying on his side next to Sirius and Harry is lifted up to sit on Sirius' stomach. "No Harry," says Sirius rather desperately, "say, um, Padfoot. Yes, say Padfoot."

"Fuck," chimes Harry happily.

"No Harry," tries Remus, "Padfoot."

"Fuck," repeats Harry with a giggle. There is laughter from the doorway, and Lily enters the room in her dressing gown. Remus groans and Sirius mutters something under his breath that sounds suspiciously like Harry new favorite word.

"Don't worry about it," says Lily as she enters the room, "he's known that one for ages." The two men on the couch breathe a sigh of relief. She continues, "It was his third word actually."

"Dare I ask what the first two were?" asks Remus.

"Well the first was mama," says Lily proudly, "and the second was James."

Right on cue, Harry says, "James" in an exasperated manner. Even Lily has to laugh at the impersonation of herself. She scoops up the toddler, and goes into the kitchen.

"Make yourselves presentable and come help with breakfast," she calls from the doorway. Remus blushes, Sirius laughs, and they get up.

Lily is just strapping Harry into his highchair when Remus and Sirius arrive in the kitchen. The smell of eggs and bacon is coming from the stove where food is cooking itself, and there's a kettle on for tea. "Would you make some toast Remus?" asks Lily from where the cupboard.

"Sure," he replies as James stumbles into the kitchen, his hair sticking out in ten different directions.

"Morning all," he yawns, "I'll get the paper Lily."

Now, the paper is an interesting thing. The Potters can't very well have an owl deliver it every morning, seeing as the owl wouldn't be able to find them. So, the paper is delivered to Hogwarts; Dumbledore's office specifically. From there, Fawkes the phoenix takes it and puts it into a concealed duct. This transports the paper about halfway to the Potter's. Then, when the Potter's want to get their paper, they perform a spell to make sure it's safe, and then the spell to retrieve the paper. It works the same way for mail.

Anyway, on this particular morning the paper isn't there. "Lily," calls James from where he's standing next to the paper duct, "it's not there."

"What do you mean it's not there?" Lily calls back.

"I mean," says James, "the paper is not there."

"How could the paper not be there?" asks an exasperated Lily as she emerges from the cupboard, dropping some cereal on Harry's tray as she makes her way over to her husband, "if the Apocalypse was coming the Ministry would print the Prophet and insist we were in for a bit of rain. There is always a paper."

"Be that as it may," says James, "there is still no paper."

"Oh move over," says Lily. She tries the spell and nothing happens.

"Do you believe me now?" asks James poking his tongue out just a bit.

"Do you think there's something wrong?" asks Remus from the counter where he's toasting the bread.

"I don't know," says Lily with a bit of worry in her voice, "this has never happened before."

James leaves the room and returns a moment later with a piece of parchment and a quill. "I'm going to send Dumbledore a note."

Before he can get more than a sentence written, however, a letter comes zooming out of the duct. Lily grabs it quickly, performs a few basic spells to make sure it's not hexed, and opens it. After reading it quickly, she says, "Oh no."

"What," says James, "that didn't sound good. Oh no what?" Lily hands the letter over silently.

To Remus and Sirius who are standing at the counter looking worried she says, "The Ministry of Magic was invaded and taken by Death Eaters last night. What's left of the staff has relocated to Hogwarts. There are some people missing and they don't know how many dead. He also doesn't know where you two are. Sirius, if you could write down the floo and send it to Dumbledore I think this would be a lot easier to sort out." She says this all very quietly, as if she doesn't quite believe it yet. She also doesn't want to alarm Harry by raising her voice; a screaming one year old is all they need at the moment.

His face white, Sirius takes James' abandoned parchment and scribbles out a quick note. He hands it silently to Lily, who sends it quickly. "He'll probably be at the fire place in a minute, so let's eat quickly shall we?" she says with false cheeriness. Harry throws his spoon at the wall and everyone laughs a bit hysterically.

Four minutes and thirty six seconds later, Albus Dumbledore's head is sitting in the Potter's fireplace. "Good, you're all here," he says, "I went to your flat earlier this morning and got a bit of a scare when the two of you weren't there." The twinkle is completely absent from his eyes as he delivers his news.

"As you know, the Ministry has been taken by Voldemort and his followers. They invaded late last night, so there wasn't much of a fight. Not that many were killed, but there are some half bloods missing. If all of you could come through in about a half an hour, we're having an emergency Order meeting. Now, I must contact some others, it's never safe to talk over the floo for too long anyway."

"We'll be there," says Lily just before the old man's head disappears.

"Fuck," Harry yells happily from the kitchen.

"You said it kid," says Sirius, "you said it."


	4. Chapter 3

I know it's been forever since I've updated this (or anything really.) If you're still here thanks. I still own nothing. Enjoy!

Chapter 3:

Three months have passed since we've seen our heroes last. While no major battles have taken place, many minor skirmishes have and the Order has suffered four causalities. The more disturbing events, however, are the disappearances. Half-bloods, Muggle borns, squibs, and people such as werewolves and vampires have been vanishing on a regular basis. They usually go in the night, and in many cases, neighbors have reported seeing masked figures taking the people away.

Voldemort and his followers are still in control of the Ministry of Magic, and have been using it to control the magical community. While they are not in complete control, they wield a lot more power than before. The Ministry has relocated itself to Hogwarts and, seeing as the previous Minister fled after the attack, Albus Dumbledore has taken the title of Minister of Magic until a suitable replacement can be found.

James, Lily, Harry, Remus, Sirius, and Peter are in roughly the same situation as when we saw them last. Peter has a new girlfriend, though none of the other Marauders have seen her. Sirius doubts her existence, but who knows. So, this is the state of the world. The pieces are set and the game is about to take a sharp turn. And so, our scene opens…

"Mmm," sighs Remus happily as he snuggles deeper into the bed. Sirius reaches out a hand and smoothes Remus' sweaty hair away from his face, before dropping it back to the pillow. Remus reaches up and takes it with his own hand.

"You're amazing," mumbles Sirius as he rubs a thumb across Remus' knuckles. Remus just smiles and moves his head so that it's resting on Sirius' chest.

"G'night Padfoot," Remus murmurs after a few minutes of comfortable silence. He picks up his head and kisses Sirius goodnight before settling back down on his chest for sleep.

"Good night Moony," Sirius replies. Soon both men are sound asleep. It isn't often that they get to fall asleep together anymore. With the war, they're both very busy and their schedules are unpredictable. Therefore, they're rarely both home and done with any work that needs to be done at the same time. Most of the time, one will crawl into bed at one in the morning, kiss the other, and fall asleep quickly. Needless to say, certain aspects of their relationship have been obsolete as of late.

Remus and Sirius have exactly four hours, fifty-four minutes, and nine seconds of peaceful sleep together before they are rudely awakened. "Get up," barks a deep voice. Both Remus and Sirius fumble for their wands which are kept on the bedside table, and turn to face their attackers. Standing around their bed, are ten masked men holding wands at the ready.

"Lower your wands and get dressed," says the same voice, "you have five minutes to gather any personal belongings you wish to take with you. You are being relocated." While the voice stays even, it takes on a bit more malice, and the Death Eaters close in around the bed a bit more. In return, Sirius fires a hex at the nearest person. Immediately, four wands are at Remus' neck.

"Surrender or he dies," the voice says coldly. Sirius lowers his wand. Sirius' eyes lock with Remus' and they both nod. Together, they raise their wands and shout, _"moti motum!" _The Death Eaters look around in surprise, but nothing seems different.

"We'll go," Remus says quietly, and they drop their wands. While they don't want to be captured, both men know that a two to ten fight won't come out in their favor.

"Good," says the voice, "you have five minutes." To the Death Eaters he says, "You, you, and you stay here." The speaker points the three of the masked figures. "The rest of you search the house for information." Sirius gropes around on the floor, until he finds enough clothes from last night to cover both of them and hands Remus his pants. Even facing Death Eaters in your underwear is better than facing them naked.

Now, the spell mentioned above did do something, in fact, it did something very important. About two months ago, Dumbledore announced in an Order meeting that everyone was to put a spell on all important documents in the house, so that if the occupants were captured no information would be obtained by Voldemort. Remus and Sirius performed this spell (they added some things to it, such as photo albums, a teapot that belonged to Remus' mother, the keys to Sirius' motorbike, their spare wands, the key to their Gringotts account, and a few other knickknacks) and sent all these things to the Potter's. James and Lily did the same. So, when these things arrive in James and Lily's bedroom at two fifty-eight in the morning, they know something is terribly wrong.

Back at their flat, Remus and Sirius are being bound and gagged roughly. They are forced out of the flat and into the street at wand point, where they are forced to Apparate to an unknown location. By the time James arrives, (damn the fact he's not supposed to leave his house especially after dark, these are his best friends) they are long gone and the flat is a mess. Papers, clothes, books, and furniture are strewn everywhere and above the mess hangs the new symbol that has been found over the house of every disappearance. It's very similar to the other one, except it's red. James sinks to the floor and weeps. He then contacts Dumbledore. But I digress.

Remus and Sirius are forced to Apparate to a dark alleyway. From there, they walk two blocks until they come to a dumpster. They are floated into the dumpster (seeing as they are blindfolded and can't see where they're going), which turns out to be a portal into an underground building. Their blindfolds are removed, just in time for them to be separated. Remus is pushed down one corridor and Sirius another. As Remus is pushed, he looses his balance and falls hard to the floor. His escort kicks him in the stomach, before pulling him roughly to his feet and forcing him onward. Sirius makes a strangled noise, but all this gains is another rough push.

Sirius walks, well it's more of a stumble, down the corridor until his guard stops him in front of a wooden door. Sirius is pushed inside, and the guard leaves. Inside, a man in a white coat stands with a clipboard along with a larger man dressed in black. Sirius is released of his bonds and forced into a chair.

"You're name is Simon Brown is that correct?" asks the man in the white without preamble. Sirius opens his mouth to answer no, before he remembers and answers yes. When Remus graduated from Hogwarts, he had to register with the Werewolf Registry as to where he was living and the other occupants of the house among other things. Sirius, at the time, was applying to be an Auror, and while there are no specific rules against, it Remus thought it might hurt his chances of being accepted if he was living with a known werewolf. So, Sirius became Simon and they forgot the whole thing.

"You are the lover of the werewolf Remus J. Lupin?" white coat asks.

"Yes," says Sirius.

"Homosexuality does not help carry on the pureblood line," white coat tsks softly as the man in black hits Sirius across the face. White coat examines him quickly and says, "Deportation." Black clothes nods, and grabs Sirius roughly by the arm, dragging him out of the room and down the hall.

Sirius is dragged down a few flights of stairs and down a few more corridors, before arriving at a cell. It's dimly lit and inside about ten people are sitting. The door is made of metal bars on the top half, and wood on the bottom. A few prisoners look up with mild interest, but when they realize it's not food their attention goes back to whatever they were doing before the interruption.

A quick glance tells Sirius the Remus is not here, and he asks, "Have any of you seen a man about two inches shorter than me with light brown hair and eyes?"

"Sorry son," says a middle aged woman who is sitting in the corner with a boy of about twelve who looks like he's her son. (Incidentally, he is.) '"No one's been here since yesterday." Sirius nods his thanks and goes to sit down, but thinks better of it and starts pacing.

Thankfully for Sirius, (and the sanity of the other prisoners), the door opens again in thirty nine minutes and in stumbles Remus looking much worse for the wear. One of his eyes is blackened and his lip is bleeding as he falls into the cell. Sirius races forward to catch him and hugs him tightly. They stand there together, Remus' head on Sirius' shoulder visa versa. "I thought I lost you," murmurs Sirius.

"You're not getting rid of me that easily," replies Remus just as softly with a pained laugh.

"Fucking fairies," mutters the son of the woman who answered Sirius earlier.

"Shush, Johnny," says his mother, "we're all in this together remember."

"My… uh… brother," says Sirius hastily as he pulls Remus off into a corner. The walls are a bit slimy and there are spiders, but the corner offers a tiny bit of privacy.

Much later, Sirius assumes it's night again because the dim lights that brightened a bit during what Sirius assumes was day have dimmed once more, Sirius says, "Remus?"

"Yeah," he replies.

"If we don't both make it out of here alive, I just want you to know," Sirius pauses, "that I love you."

"I love you too," Remus replies softly. They kiss briefly.

A gagging noise is heard from somewhere across the room, and a soft rebuke from the mother. Sirius snorts and Remus smiles; they settle down to sleep.


	5. Chapter 4

It's been a while hasn't it? I'm not dead, I just work very very slowly. Hopefully the next chapter won't take as long, but I'm making no promises. This chapter is mostly a transition, but hopefully it will be enjoyable. Also, HBP changes nothing, seeing as this is AU, so no spoilers. Enjoy!

Chapter 4

Three days have passed since Remus and Sirius were captured. Since then, a number of curious things have happened, the first of which occurred on their first day of imprisonment. Johnny, the rather mean boy who had insulted our pair the previous night, came over and apologized. This was, by no stretch of the imagination, a voluntary apology, but the pair accepted it. Then, for some reason, Sirius invited him to stay with them. While the boy wasn't really thrilled by this idea, he accepted if only to escape the wrath of his mother. The two parties came to an agreement of sorts; Remus and Sirius would partake in "no queer stuff'" in Johnny's presence, and they would tell him stories about the Marauders. Johnny would be nice.

Another curious event that took place was a visit Peter Pettigrew took to Professor Albus Dumbledore. Peter suggested during this visit that maybe the Potter's secret keeper should be changed given the situation the current one was in. Dumbledore, thankfully, refused Peter's offer on behalf of the Potters and offered him a sherbet lemon. Peter left disappointed and with lemon flavored breath.

The third curious event was that Harry learned a new word. James was lying on the floor with Harry reading to him, when an idea suddenly struck him. In his rush to get up and talk to Dumbledore, he smacked his head into the table. His loud exclamation of "damn it" was quickly followed by another one in a child's voice. James groaned, scooped up the happily swearing Harry, and rushed off to find Lily. Upon finding her, he launched into an explanation about how Sirius couldn't possibly be dead, because they're still hidden. In turn, Lily pulled out a wizarding clock from the pile at her feet. She'd been going through the papers that arrived the night before and had found it. The clock showed both Remus and Sirius as "imprisoned." Lily, James, and Harry were shown as unknown.

But back to Remus and Sirius; in the three days they've been in their cell, they've also taken some time to get to know the other occupants. Every person is either Muggle born or a half-blood. Also, two other werewolves other than Remus are being held. While the full moon isn't for another three weeks, the others are still worried. No one knows how long they'll be imprisoned. They are however, about to find out.

At about twelve thirty six am, the start of the fourth day, a masked figure appears at the cell door. It's the first human the cell's occupants have seen since Remus arrived. Their food has been materializing twice a day by way of magic. "Up," he says, "you are being moved to a more secure location. Anyone who resists will be killed immediately." Seeing that resistance is pointless, everyone gets up immediately.

They are herded down a long hallway until they reach a large truck. The group is forced at wand point into the dark interior of the back of the truck. One man, a squib by the name of Sean, decides he's had enough. With a quick look at the guards, both of whom are facing the other way, he bolts back towards the passageway. "Stupid," mutters someone near Remus' ear.

Without a blink of an eye, one of the robed, masked figures turns around and shouts, "Avada Kedavra!" The guard then turns back to loading the prisoners. A woman lets out a stifled cry and everyone looks away from the dead man. Remus grabs Sirius' hand and squeezes quickly before letting go. It's a simple action, but the meaning behind it is much greater. He's saying, 'this could happen to you, so don't do anything stupid'. The loading continues in silence.

When everyone is in, the doors clang shut and the whole area goes completely dark. It's tight, but not unbearable. From outside, Remus can hear a spell being uttered and suddenly it feels like they're being compressed. It's not totally unpleasant, but it's certainly odd.

"We're being shrunk," whispers Sirius. Indeed they are. The truck is reduced until it's small enough to be carried easily, then picked-up. Screams can almost be heard by the guards, but their captives are so small now, that their voices are miniscule. The truck is set on the front seat of a normal looking car, strapped down, and away they go.

After a relatively long ride, the truck is lifted, set on the ground, and is returned to its normal size. "Out," barks a guard as the heavy doors are pulled open. They're in a small train station and a train mostly comprised of cattle cars is on the tracks. "Into the car," shouts a guard standing next to an open carriage. The prisoners scramble in immediately. It's amazing how fear and power can make even the most stubborn or brave people submissive.

Remus and Sirius head for a wall and make themselves comfortable. Johnny and his mother settle in not too far away. It's crowded, but not to the point that it's overbearingly so. A few holes in the walls let in a small amount of light and air, which is welcome even if it's freezing cold. Remus and Sirius huddle together for warmth and comfort. Around them, others do the same.

All night, the train inches forward every so often. Remus can hear the bark of the guards as more prisoners are loaded into different cars. Sirius has fallen asleep. Finally, at six forty seven in the morning, the train starts to move and doesn't stop. As they pick up speed, Remus finally surrenders himself to sleep.

When Remus awakes, he finds himself curled into Sirius who's sitting up. Sirius is awake and is telling Johnny about the time the Marauders had made it rain in the dungeons for a week in sixth year. Remus also realizes that he's very thirsty. The inside of his mouth is parchment dry, and has a bad taste to it, left over from sleep.

As he groans wearily and removes his head from Sirius' stomach, Sirius says, "Oh good you're awake Moony, we thought you'd sleep all day."

"What's going on?" asks Remus still groggy from sleep.

"Well," responds Sirius, "it's about two o'clock in the afternoon and we've been moving at about the same pace since I woke up at ten. We've very little food, just what's been saved from our meals at the other place. There's a small hole that's being used as a toilet in that far corner." Sirius gestures vaguely with his hand. "I'm very thirsty, and this one over here," he points to Johnny, "hasn't left me alone since I woke up."

"I see," says Remus, "this doesn't look very good at all."

"No it doesn't," replies Sirius, "no it doesn't."

They travel for three days. By day three, everyone is miserable. The little food that people had squirreled away in their pockets is long gone and everyone is extremely thirsty and hungry. The car reeks of unwashed bodies and human waste that didn't make it out the hole in the floor. Tempers are running high, and it's freezing. Then, they stop. At about three twenty two in the afternoon of their third day of traveling, the train gradually comes to a complete stop.

Hundreds of miles away, in Godric's Hollow, Lily calls James into the kitchen where they have hung the clock which was found in Remus and Sirius' possessions. "The hands moved again," she says quietly. And indeed they have. The hands that for the past three days had been pointing to 'traveling' are now pointed at two words; 'mortal peril'.


	6. Chapter 5

Wow, just a little bit over a week later. I'm on a roll. Thanks to reviewers, good feedback really helps. The next one may be a little longer due to my being away from a computer for two weeks and then to start of school, but I'll see how it goes. Until next time; enjoy!

Chapter 5

The light of day is blinding as the passengers step out of the carriage. They are herded through an ominous looking gate and told to form two lines; one for men, the other for women. "Stay with Remus and Sirius Johnny," instructs Johnny's mother, "I'm sure I'll see you soon." She tries to kiss his head, but he ducks it.

The line moves slowly. While the sun beats down, it's still blistering cold and everyone is hungry and thirsty. A woman collapses. The people around her try to rouse her, but to no avail. They are forced to move on without her and some time later a guard levitates her away. This happens to two other people, a man who looks to be about sixty and a toddler.

Finally, after about two hours of waiting, Remus, Sirius, and Johnny reach the front of the line. At the head, a sinister looking figure covered in a heavy black cloak stands with a clip-board. "Name," he says coldly.

"Johnny Teller."

"Blood and human status?"

"I'm a squib, and fully human."

"Age?"

"Twelve, sir."

"Left," shouts the masked man as he shoves Johnny rather hard in that direction. The process is repeated for both Remus and 'Simon'. Both are sent to the right.

"Excuse me," says Remus rather timidly, "that boy, Johnny, is with us. We're supposed to be looking after him; do you think he could come with us?"

The man smacks Remus hard across the face. He stumbles and Sirius steadies him before pulling away. "Decisions are final," barks the man. "And don't speak unless spoken to. Got it _werewolf?_" Remus nods and, with a last apologetic grin at Johnny, hurries off into the group already assembled. Sirius restrains himself, barely, and once they are well enough away examines Remus' cheek. It's bright red, and already starting to bruise. Sirius caresses it tenderly, but can do nothing else at the moment. They never see Johnny again.

When the line is finally gone and all the prisoners have been sent either right or left, the groups are moved again. Remus and Sirius, along with the others, are herded into a long building. "Remove all your clothes and leave them on the floor," bellows a guard, "then line up here." He indicates to the spot in front of himself. Remus is hesitant, and starts undressing slowly. He knows that he should just do it quickly and without a fuss, but years of shielding his scared and thin body from others is hard to overcome. A little ways away, another man appears to be having a similar dilemma. When his dead body falls limply to the floor Remus picks up the pace.

"Just look at me," whispers Sirius, "you won't feel so self-conscious." Remus does so, and it helps a bit. Sirius has always had a calming effect on him.

When all the men are undressed and assembled in front of the guard, they are led into another chamber. It's round, and every few feet there is a small hole in the wall. This is true of the ceiling as well. The guard instructs them to stay in the room, then leaves through a door different from the one they entered. The men shift and whisper nervously. Suddenly, jets of water burst from the holes. It's freezing, but the prisoners jump into it, trying to catch droplets in their mouths.

The water ends as abruptly as it started. Shivering and huddling together for warmth, the prisoners pass through the same door the guard exited through. They find themselves in another chamber. Here, many new guards have joined the first.

The next half an hour passes in a blur. Spells are cast to rid the prisoners of their hair and of any parasites they may have contracted on the trains. There is searing pain as they are branded with a series of numbers and letters, based on their blood and human status. They will soon learn that the marks are magical and work in a very similar way to the dark mark of the Death Eaters. Finally, ill fitting, old, faded black robes are issued, along with shoes, and the prisoners are marched out of the building.

After some effort Remus and Sirius find each other again. With the non-descript clothing and lack of hair it's difficult at first because they'd been separated in the large building, but they find each other in the end. Remus can't help but let out a small shaky laugh when he sees Sirius. "You look so funny without hair Padfoot." He lets out another laugh as a thought crosses his mind. "I wonder if Padfoot is hairless as well."

"If we weren't in such big trouble right now I'd kill you."

"No, you love me too much to do that."

"Yes I do," Sirius says softly.

Before Remus can reply, the guards are back and shouting for a single file line. They are marched along a fairly clear path, but snow does manage to make its way into shoes, and sock-less ankles are freezing by the time they reach their next destination.

"This will be your home until further notice," sneers the guard nastily, "two to a bed, and none on the beds already taken. Your roommates will arrive shortly. Take a blanket as you pass." Another guard stands at the entrance of the barrack holding a stack of faded silver and green blankets. The prisoners file in, and the door is locked behind them.

"Come on Moony," says Sirius, "let's find a bed." The beds are bunks, and not really beds at all, just some straw with something vaguely resembling a sheet covering it. They hurry and secure a bottom bed. Someone is already occupying the top one. It's dirty, and the whole room smells horrid. Remus thinks he sees a blood stain on the floor and tries to ignore it.

Remus and Sirius lay down together, using both of the thin blankets to cover them together, and snuggle up close. Let the other prisoners think it's for warmth alone. Miraculously they fall asleep for about an hour before the others return. Groggily, they sit up as a man looks down at them. He's about medium height, with green eyes. The bristles of hair that have started growing from his head look to be blond.

"Hi, I'm Will Fridolf, I'm on the bed above you," he says with a smile, "and you two are?"

"I'm Remus Lupin and this is Sirius, um, I mean Simon Brown," says Remus.

"Sirius then," says Will, "it's safe to use real names now, we're all numbers and letters to them. It's nice to meet you. I would, however, keep the fact that you're a couple quiet."

"How did you…?" exclaims Sirius.

"Well for starters," replies Will, "your hand is on his hip." He indicates to Sirius' hand, which has subconsciously fallen protectively onto Remus' hip. Sirius removes the hand swiftly.

Remus changes the subject quickly, "so what's this about numbers and letters?"

Will rolls up the threadbare sleeve of his robe and explains, "You remember when they gave you those tattoos?" They both nod. "Well it's their way of identifying us and calling us. The letters stand for different things. For instance, I have an 'M' and a 'W'. The 'M' stands for mudblood and the 'W' for werewolf. The numbers, as far as I can tell, are just used in order."

"You're a werewolf?" asks Sirius.

"Yeah, but please don't hold it against me, I hardly ever bite I assure you."

"How do they handle the transformations?" asks Remus.

"There's a potion they give all the werewolves on the day of the full moon," says Will his voice taking on a slightly icy edge, "but don't worry I won't hurt either of you." He turns to leave.

"Wait," calls Remus as he stands and walks towards Will, "I'm a werewolf too."

The barrack goes deathly silent. "What are you all looking at?" says Will loudly. The other prisoners turn quickly and resume whatever they were doing. Remus looks down, Sirius moves to him, and Will looks around defiantly.

A loud bell sounds and everyone scrambles up and out of the room. "Dinner time," announces Will to Remus and Sirius cheerfully. They follow him out silently.

"I think we're going to get along very well," Will announces as they fall into the line where food is served. The other two smile, but say nothing.

After a while of silence Remus says, "I have a question."

"Ask away."

"What do they do with the people who were sent the other way when we first arrived?"

Will's face takes on a somber look, "they're killed. That green light you see every so often is a killing curse. Everyone who's too young, old, or weak to work is killed immediately."

"Oh," Remus says quietly. Sirius looks down and Remus pats his back a few times before moving away.

"Welcome to hell boys," says Will as they move forward to collect their meager meal.


	7. Chapter 6

AN: I know it's been a while since I've worked on this, but real life kinda took over for a while. Thank you to everyone who's reviewed this story; I really appreciate it.

Chapter 6

It's been three weeks since Remus and Sirius arrived in hell. In that time, they've become somewhat accustomed to the schedule in the camp. They rise at dawn for roll call and inspection of the barracks to be sure no extra food, medicine, or clothing has been smuggled in. Once, during their second week in the camp, a man was caught with stolen food. His pleas fell on deaf ears, and the guard in charge killed him instantly. It took a long time for any of the prisoners to stop hearing the man beg for his life and the life of his son (for whom the food was stolen) or to stop seeing the blank, bored look in the guard's face as he lazily preformed the killing curse.

After roll call and inspection, the prisoners form a single file line and march to the kitchens to collect their morning meal which generally consists of weak tea and a hunk of stale bread. When the meal as been distributed and eaten, the work day begins. A guard stands on a large box in the center of the "dining" area and reads off barrack numbers and work locations for the day. Some days, Remus and Sirius are lucky and end up with something easy like kitchen duty, or the sorting of belongings taken from prisoners upon their arrival. Other days, they're subjected to harder work such as filling in or digging new latrines, or working on a new set of tracks for the railroad.

Work lasts till dusk, when they are finally allowed to stop and eat again. The evening meal, while more filling than the morning one, isn't much. Thin soup, bread, and tea are generally served, although there is an occasional variation. When the meal is finished, they file back to the barracks where another inspection and roll call takes place. Exhausted, the prisoners fall into their cold beds and sleep.

Today, however, is not a typical day. When Sirius awakens, sunlight is streaming through the cracks in the walls, and Remus is sleeping peacefully in his arms. Throughout the room, he can hear the quiet (and a few not so quiet) sounds of sleeping men. While he thinks this odd, he shrugs it off and goes back to sleep.

It's two hours and sixteen minutes later that he's awakened again, this time by Will. "Get up before lunch is gone," he says, and hurries off towards a large pot that's been set in the center of the room.

Sirius starts to ask what's going on, but Remus stops him. "Talk later, food now." Sirius has no reason to argue with that, this could be his last meal for all he knows. They quickly make their way over to the pot and help themselves to watery stew and a small hunk of bread. It's not until they're sitting on their bunk and practically inhaling the meal that Sirius re-voices his question.

"It's the full moon tonight," Will explains, "and when they first established this hell hole, they discovered rather early that it's pointless to make a werewolf work on the day of a full moon. So, once a month everyone gets a day off."

"Do we get tomorrow off as well?" asks Remus hopefully.

"Sadly no," says Will.

"How do they, ah, handle the transformation?" asks Sirius.

"There's a potion they give around four in the afternoon," answers Will, "it knocks us out and is highly addictive, but at least we don't physically hurt ourselves or others. The side effects get better the more times you take it, but you also get more hooked on it. If I were to undergo my transformation tonight without it, I would most likely not live to see the morning."

"What are these side effects?" asks Sirius suspiciously as he places a hand on the small of Remus' back.

"They're not too bad," says Will with a small wistful smile as he watches the couple. "Nausea and general sleepiness on the day after generally occur. I had to have a friend literally hold me up during roll call after my first transformation here. Also, when you take it tonight, the sedatives will react faster than they will with me because I've built up a bit of an immunity to them. You'll probably be out within thirty seconds, while I'll mostly likely be awake for a good five minutes."

"That doesn't sound too bad," says Sirius. "Where do they take you for the transformation?" His hand clenches protectively on Remus' back.

"We stay here in the barracks," replies Will, "much to the discomfort of everyone else." The hand relaxes once more. "Now I suggest we get some rest, it's not often we get to laze the day away in bed." Will winks, and moves to return to his own bed, but Remus stops him.

"Why don't you stay here with us and we can get to know each other a bit. We've been here together for nearly three weeks and we barely know more than each other's names."

"Well, three is warmer than one," replies Will. His bedmate has gone off to sit with some other prisoners, and they don't really get along anyways.

Time slips by quickly as the three men share bits of their lives before their incarceration. Remus and Sirius tell about their respective childhoods, their time at Hogwarts, and their life after finishing school. They talk about James, Lily, little Harry, Peter, and the rest of their friends. They speak of the war and what it's done to them. In turn, Will tells them of his previous life. He's married to the most wonderful woman in the world, and they have two amazing children. He tells about how they were visiting relatives in France when he was captured, and how he hopes they're safe. He was bitten at the age of fifteen, and had to drop out of school, but his mother continued to teach him what little she knew of magic.

Before they know it it's four o'clock, and the barrack door is sliding open. "All werewolves line up here for your sedative," shouts the guard. Remus, Will, and four others rise from their places and move to the door where they are handed small cups of a green liquid. Remus and Will return to the bed before drinking their portion to avoid passing out on the floor. Another man, however, hasn't been informed of the strength of the potion and collapses in the middle of the room. The werewolf behind him in line helps the man back to his bed.

The rest of the distribution goes smoothly, until the guards turn to leave. As they depart, a man who was brought in a few days after Remus and Sirius yells, "Are you just going to leave those monsters here?" The guard smirks as a response and closes the door. A second later, the muffled sound of a locking spell can be heard.

While this has all been going on, Remus has taken his potion and is currently slumped in Sirius' arms. The man continues to yell obscenities at the closed door, and finally Sirius has had enough. He carefully places his armful of drugged werewolf on the bed, and rises to face to man. A swift punch to the jaw quiets the man down fairly quickly.

"Now that I have your attention, listen up. They can't help who they are anymore then you can help being here. So I suggest you pull the stick out of your arse before I decide to help you." With that, he returns to Remus.

The man spits out a quiet "queer", but pursues the matter no further. It's not worth it to have enemies in a place like this. With the exception of an occasional stomach gurgling, silence falls over the room as the prisoners wait anxiously for moon rise.

Sirius holds Remus tight as the first stages of the transformation grip him. Even though he's deeply sedated, Sirius can still see the pain etched on his face. In five minutes it's over, and Sirius is sharing the bed with Moony. He glances around the dark room quickly, checking to make sure no one's watching, then transforms into Padfoot. Padfoot licks Moony's muzzle once, then curls himself around the sedated wolf and goes to sleep.

Hundreds of miles away, in Godric's Hollow, Lily Potter awakes to find that her husband is not in bed. She stares blearily at the clock which reads two thirty six a.m., and slides out of bed. Pulling on her dressing gown and slippers, she heads for the living room where she finds her missing husband.

"James, it's two thirty in the morning, what in the world are you doing?" she asks softly.

"It's the full moon tonight," responds James, "and I couldn't sleep."

Lily notices a book open in front of him and says, "So you came down here to do a bit of late night reading?"

James blushes a bit and hesitates before replying, "Well, we've tried lots of different magical ways to find them, and none have worked, so I thought I'd take a Muggle approach." Lily looks at the book closer and realizes it's his old Muggle studies textbook. It's opened to the chapter on Muggle religions.

"Oh James," she whispers as she sits down with him and takes his hand. They cry and pray together to any God or Goddess that may be listening until the moon sets.


	8. Chapter 7

A/N: I'm making progress! Thanks again to reviewers, you guys keep me going. Enjoy!

Chapter 7

Severus Snape rubs his eyes and rises from his desk to pour himself another cup of coffee. When this task has been completed, he moves to his window and looks out on the moonlit camp. He loathes the night of the full moon for he has to stay up all night in case something goes wrong with the potion. "Nothing will go wrong," he mutters under his breath, "I created the damn thing."

He sets his mug on the window sill, and raises his arm, looking thoughtfully at the mark he finds there. Being a double agent is never easy, but he thinks he pulls it off rather well. Dumbledore never tells him much incase the Dark Lord ever finds out about his work with the Order, and he never really finds out much about the Dark Lord's work, because he's stuck here. Hell, he doesn't even know where "here" is. He's in charge of the prisoner's medical needs, and he doesn't even know where the hell he is.

'At least I'm allowed to experiment in peace,' he thinks as he picks up the mug and returns to his desk. The prisoner's don't really need all that much medical attention. In fact, they really don't need any at all. There is an infirmary, but those that go in rarely come out. This may be due to the fact that Snape doesn't know all that much about medicine, but the general feeling of the camp is that if a prisoner is too weak to work, they're not worth keeping.

Snape's job is really to keep the half-breeds from attacking anyone and to work on creating new weapons with which to destroy Dumbledore's side and take over the world. While it's not his ideal job, it suits him, and allows him to do work for both sides in relative peace.

Snape sets his mug down on a clear patch of desk, and picks up a stack of papers. He's idly shuffling through this month's list of new prisoners when he does a double take. The name Remus Lupin pops out at him from the page as having arrived three weeks ago. Snape quickly checks his schedule of barrack visits and changes tomorrow's (well, today's really) to barrack number thirteen. 'What an interesting turn of events,' he thinks as he dips his quill in ink and continues his work.

Meanwhile, across the camp in barrack number thirteen, Padfoot awakes with a start as Moony starts to transform back into a human next to him. Padfoot quickly returns to human form, and watches as Moony transforms back to Remus. He can see Moony's face twitching in the gray pre-dawn light, but other than that there's very little reaction: he's still out cold. Sirius pets Moony's head, as the fur melts into the peach fuzz that now covers Remus's head.

Above him he hears a faint groan, and then a sigh as the boards creak with the motion of someone turning over. 'It's good to know Moony won't always be knocked out so thoroughly,' Sirius thinks as he settles back down under their two thin blankets. He pulls the skinny, unconscious werewolf close and goes back to sleep.

Barely an hour later, he's re-awakened by the sound of a shouting guard, and moving men. He sighs and leans over Remus to wake him. "Come on Moony," he says, "time to rise and shine."

Remus shifts and says, "Nhugg."

Sirius climbs over him, and puts on his shoes, before trying again. "Come on Remus, you've got to get up love." He shakes the sleeping man gently, and looks around quickly before kissing him. Remus cracks open one bleary eye, and tries to sit up.

"That's it Moony, come on," coaxes Sirius as he slips Remus's arm over his shoulder and helps him out of bed. They make their way slowly out of the room and into the freezing winter morning.

"Line up for inspection," shouts a guard and the prisoners quickly do so. Sirius stands between Will and Remus. Will is holding his own, but Remus looks ready to pass out any moment. Sirius surreptitiously holds Remus up, only letting him stand on his own when the guards pass by to check their numbers off.

"March," is called out and the prisoners make their way to the food line where they receive their breakfast. As they eat, a small group of cloaked men sweep into the area. Sirius almost chokes when he realizes who the man in the center of the group is.

"Moony," he whispers urgently, "look over there." Remus does so, and has a reaction similar to Sirius's. Before he can reply, however, the man in question speaks.

"All werewolves are to assemble here at the close of the meal. The rest of you filth will be sorting clothing." His dark eyes look around coldly, "Well, what are you waiting for?" The dining area is suddenly filled with the sounds of men moving quickly to return their dishes and report to their proper places.

"I'll see you in a bit Sirius," says Remus as he and Will start to make their way over to Snape.

Sirius kisses him quickly and says, "Love you; see you later." He can't help the feeling of dread that tickles at the base of his neck and makes the tiny hairs there stand on end, but he doesn't want to voice this fear any more than Remus does. Sirius rushes away before he makes a scene, trying all the while to convince himself that this won't be the last time he sees his Moony. Remus heads off slowly in the other direction.

The group of werewolves follow Snape silently across the camp, moving slowly for many of them have taken the potion for the first time the previous night. They stop in front of a small building which Snape unlocks with a whispered spell.

The room is warm, and filled with small examination tables covered in white sheets. "Undress and sit down," Snape says. "You're here for research purposes, not to be coddled. You will address me as 'Sir' and only speak when spoken to. Is that understood?"

"Yes Sir," the group quietly murmurs.

"Good."

He sweeps to the back of the room where he begins his examinations. Remus is seated near the front, and so he settles down to wait. Snape asks each werewolf a series of questions, checks their vitals, and occasionally gives them a cup of something. He then writes down his findings. Nearly an hour passes before Snape comes to Remus, the last of six.

"Listen I don't have much time so listen closely Lupin," whispers Snape harshly as he bends over to take Remus's pulse. "I can take one message to Dumbledore for you, and keep you updated on the war in exchange for your silence about my alliances. These must be brief exchanges, and no one must suspect a thing. I can kill you as easily this." He snaps his fingers.

Remus gulps and thinks for a moment before replying, "Deal. Please tell Dumbledore to tell James that I have a dog and that the rat is not to be trusted. James will understand." After a moment's hesitation he adds, "Thank you…Sir." Snape smirks as he hands Remus a steaming cup.

"Drink this; it'll make you feel better." Remus eyes it suspiciously, but drinks it anyway. He's trusting Snape to deliver a message to Dumbledore, so he may as well trust him to not poison him.

As Remus exits the room, feeling much steadier on his legs than he did upon arrival, he thinks to himself, 'I'm trusting Severus Snape… this world really has gone to hell in a hand basket.'

Hundreds of miles away in Godric's Hollow, James and Lily Potter are awakened by an attack launched by a very awake and hyper ball of Harry. "Food mum," he squeals as he plops himself in her lap.

"James your son is hungry," she says groggily as she straightens herself out and rubs the back of her neck.

"He asked you," replies James as he buries his face deeper into the floor.

"You'll pay for this later," says Lily as she picks up Harry and makes her way to the kitchen, swatting her husband's head on the way out.

An hour later, after a few cups of coffee and a quick shower, Lily is starting to feel more like a human being. Harry is in his highchair, and his parents are seated at the table when Albus Dumbledore's face suddenly appears in their fireplace. Lily drops her toast and James spills his coffee. Harry continues smooshing his bananas.

"Morning James, Lily, Harry," says Dumbledore pleasantly, "sorry to have dropped in so suddenly but I've just received some very interesting news."

By this time Lily has recovered herself enough to offer her former headmaster some toast, and to move closer to the fire to hear the news. James joins her as soon as he's cleaned up his little spill.

"What is it?" asks Lily with a hint of apprehension. In times like this, news is seldom good.

"I've just gotten a report from one of our spies in Voldemort's forces. It seems as if Mr. Lupin has been located."

"Oh thank Merlin," breathes Lily.

"Where is he Sir?" asks James.

"That's the problem. My source claims he's in some sort of concentration camp type prison, but he doesn't know the location of it. While my source works in the camp, he's not allowed to know it's location for security reasons. He did, however, communicate with Remus and has a message for you."

"Well?" asks James impatiently.

"I have a dog and the rat is not to be trusted," says Dumbledore. "I will assume that means something to you."

"Yes…yes," James replies, eyes shining, "it means he's with Sirius and Peter is not to be trusted."

"If I live to be three hundred years old I'll never understand you boys," says Dumbledore with a chuckle. "There is, however, one other matter I'd like to discuss with you before I leave you two to digest this development"

"Yes?" asks Lily as she moves to take away Harry's banana mush before it meets the wall.

"Last night there was an attack near your mother's house James, and I think it would be in her best interest if she moved in with you for the time being."

"Actually we've been discussing that as well," says James with a hint of relief. "She wouldn't have to be alone, and we could spend more time doing work for the Order with someone around to mind Harry."

"Splendid," says Dumbledore happily, "how about I bring her around two tomorrow!"

"That'll be perfect," says Lily dazedly. Dumbledore says his goodbyes, and departs, leaving a small pile of sherbet lemons on the hearth.

"What a morning," Lily says as she plops into a chair.

"What a morning," James agrees as he picks up his banana smeared mug and takes a long sip.


	9. Chapter 8

A/N: Just a quick word of thanks to readers and reviewers especially. Enjoy!

Chapter 8

Two weeks have passed and we yet again find Severus Snape sitting at his desk in the wee hours of the morning contemplating. This time, however, the late hour is of his own free will. He sits staring at a piece of blank parchment which isn't really blank at all, or at least that's what he assumes. After all, why would Potter send Lupin a blank piece of parchment?

After two more minutes of staring, he finally decides to give up. He's been trying to crack this thing for three hours now and he really should get some sleep. What could Potter have to say to Lupin that could be of any great importance anyways? He just wants to get this stupid thing delivered so he can free his conscience and move on with his life. He wouldn't even have this psychological debt if Black hadn't been such an idiot and forced Potter to play hero boy.

Snape raises his hand and pinches the bridge of his nose. He's tired of being a double agent; in fact he's sick of being an agent period. Dumbledore is too righteous for his tastes and Voldemort; well the whole 'I'm going to take over the world' thing is just a little old.

"I'm surrounded by idiots," he mumbles to himself. "Powerful idiots who could kill me at any moment."

He sighs and heaves himself out of the chair. 'I may as well get some sleep,' he thinks to himself, 'if I'm going to be a pawn in this little game I may as well be a well rested one.'

Meanwhile, far away in Godric's Hollow, Lily and James Potter are also awake. They're sitting on the living room floor; Lily is pouring through old tomes for the Order while James idly stares at the enchanted clock on the wall, when James suddenly jumps up and shouts, "I've got it!"

"Got what?" asks Lily as she blearily rubs her eyes. James ignores her question and starts pacing around the room muttering to himself. Lily watches with a puzzled expression, but doesn't interject; she knows from experience that a planning James Potter is not one to interrupt.

A minute and thirty three seconds into his frenzied pacing, James turns abruptly to Lily and shouts, "I know how to find them!"

"When you're ready to talk at a normal volume I'll be more than happy to listen," Lily replies, "but until then would you please cast a Silencing Charm on yourself? If Harry wakes up and I have to sit through another one of your mother's parenting lectures because of your screaming, I swear you'll sleep on the couch for a month."

James abruptly drops to the floor and is deathly silent.

Lily smirks. "Well, what's this idea then?"

James bounces a bit and launches into his explanation. "Do you remember that map I lost in seventh year?"

"How could I? You gripped about it for weeks."

"Well that was no ordinary map. With the right password, you could see the location of every single person in the castle."

"Is that how you always managed to avoid getting caught out of bed after curfew?"

"Well the cloak helped too." She gives him a look of mock disapproval, but he ignores it and continues. "Anyways, I know Remus kept all the notes for that project, and I'm willing to bet a lot of money that they're in those papers he and Sirius sent us. So, if we fuse the concepts of the map with that clock they sent…"

"We could find them," Lily finishes. "Brilliant, yet so simple. How did we not think of this earlier?"

"You must have been distracting me," says James with an air of haughtiness, "I'm a genius, the epitome of intelligence, the prince of…"

Lily whacks him upside the head and says, "shut up you twat."

"Me a twat? Why the mere thought is simply…" Lily pulls him to her and shuts him up with a kiss.

When they finally break apart James says, "Well I may be a twat, but at least I'm your twat."

"Yes, that you are," she whispers as she pulls him in for another kiss.

When they break apart again James says, "Shall we take this upstairs? I think our search for Moony and Padfoot can wait till morning."

"Yes I think it can," says Lily as she allows herself to be whisked away to their bedroom.

A few hours and several miles away, Remus and Sirius are awakened by a guard shouting, "Up! Get up now!" They groggily disentangle themselves from one another and quickly get out of bed. After five weeks in this place they know that now means 'this very second' and the response to jump is 'how high?'

A more recent prisoner isn't as knowledgeable. He earns a sharp kick in the stomach after he is rolled onto the floor from the top bunk. "When I say now I mean now, mudblood," the guard yells at the writhing man on the floor. The other prisoners avert their eyes until the guard marches away to harass someone else. Only then do the man's friends help him up and into line for roll call.

After breakfast, if it could be called that, the prisoners are divided into work groups. Remus is sent to the infirmary and Sirius is sent to the train station along with Will to collect baggage. A large group of new prisoners is expected that day and many hands will be needed to unload and sort through their belongings. The men find it odd that Remus is being separated from their barrack group, but don't question it too much. In an atmosphere of constant fear there's not much room for questioning.

It's a long and tedious day for everyone. Remus is set to work cleaning various potions and medical equipment for Snape with other men he doesn't know, but who all turn out to be werewolves. Through an overheard conversation, he learns that they're all there for observation. Around lunchtime (or what would be lunchtime if they were fed a mid-day meal) Snape slips Remus a tightly folded piece of parchment and Remus doubts they're there strictly for observation.

The work day finally ends, and Remus sets his sponge down with a sigh of relief. His arms ache slightly from a day of scrubbing, but it was fairly light work compared to other days and he's thankful for this. He hurries to clean up his supplies, eager to get back to Sirius.

Remus finds him in line for their evening rations with Will, looking very pale and upset. While Remus wants to go to him immediately, he knows that drawing attention to their relationship isn't a good idea, so he forces himself to wait. When Remus finally gets through the line, it takes all his effort not to run to Sirius, but he manages to restrain himself. They eat silently and quickly. Remus knows that Sirius will tell him what's wrong when he's ready, so beyond squeezing Sirius's shoulder upon sitting he makes no gestures of comfort.

After dinner, the prisoners are left to their own devices until evening roll call, so Remus pulls Sirius aside into a secluded corner. Before Remus can ask what the problem is, however, he finds himself shoved up against a wall with Sirius's tongue in his mouth. The kiss is rough and needy, and while Remus is surprised at the sudden onslaught he kisses Sirius back with just as much desperation.

When they finally break apart, Sirius buries his head in Remus's neck and lets out a small sob. This surprises Remus even more than the kiss; Sirius isn't prone to tears. Dramatics and an occasional tantrum, sure, but this is completely new. So he just holds him, stroking his back and his slowly re-growing hair.

Eventually Sirius calms down enough to raise his head and say, "I don't know how much more of this I can take Moony. We're supposed to be soldiers. We're supposed to protect people. But all we do is watch them die; we do nothing!"

"Sirius, Padfoot," says Remus, "look at me." Remus takes him by the shoulders and stares straight into the other man's eyes. "We are doing something; we're surviving. We have to do that right now because that's all we can do. To try and do anything else would be suicide and right now we just need to stay alive. Harry needs you. James and Lily need you. The Order needs you. I need you." Remus's voice softens with his last sentence and some of the tension he can feel in Sirius's shoulders dissipates.

They stand staring at each other for several seconds until Sirius breaks the silence. "I watched them kill a baby today. She was screaming and screaming and her mother was trying to make her stop when one of those bastards lost it and grabbed the kid. He… he threw her on the ground a…and silenced her before he used Crucio on her. The mother… she tried to get to her but someone else held her. They made her watch while they tortured her baby to death and then they killed her too. And I just stood there and watched. I just fucking stood there." Sirius breaks down again, while a horrified Remus holds him tightly.

"Oh Sirius," he murmurs as he kisses the top of Sirius's head. "What could you have done? They just would have killed you too."

"Then maybe I should have died."

Remus grabs his shoulders again and shakes him a bit. "Never ever say that. Death is their way a winning. Our part of this war right now is to stay alive." He looks into Sirius's eyes fiercely before kissing him soundly.

When they break away he says, "This is why you stay alive. Love is why we fight to stay alive."

Sirius nods and hugs Remus tightly. They stand like this for a while longer, until Remus says, "Oh, I almost forgot, we got a message from James and Lily today."

Sirius stands up straight immediately and says, "well, what do they say?"

"I don't know," answers Remus, "I haven't read it yet."

"Well get it out!" Remus pulls the tiny slip of parchment from the inside of his shoe and unfolds it. Just like Snape, they find it blank. Unlike Snape, they know how James's mind works and quickly say 'I solemnly swear I am up to no good' to the parchment. These words appear.

_M and P, _

_Greetings from P, L and H. Received your note and the rat is being watched, although not by us. We're well here and hope to find you soon. When you finish with this, the oldest Professor suggests you eat it so it doesn't fall into the wrong hands. He also hopes you are well. _

_We love you, _

_P, L, and H_

"Well that's one thing we don't have to worry about anymore," says Remus when he finishes reading. "I suppose we should get eating?"

"Yeah," Sirius says unenthusiastically. Both men look at the parchment with regret, before tearing their tie to home in half. Each takes a half and eats it quickly, expecting the taste of parchment. Instead, they are pleasantly surprised to taste lemon. They share a quick and somewhat painful laugh before a guard's voice breaks in.

"All prisoners report for evening roll call immediately." Remus and Sirius hurry off, but not before sharing a quick kiss. It sustains them both through the long evening of standing at attention.


End file.
